Disclaimer: I don't own anything. J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter and all the characters and places.
The morning edition of the Daily Prophet blared the unhappy headline GIANT PROBLEMS FOR THE MINISTRY. Hermione bit her lip as she read the article, written by one...scanning down to the bottom of the page, she saw a name she didn't recognize, and hopped back up to the actual article, which detailed rising dangers with the giants in the mountains. Apparently they firmly believed Harry's claim that You-Know-Who was back, but they sided with the Dark Lord, not Harry.
"Hey." Ernie slid into a seat next to hear, squeezing in by Ginny, who obliging scooted down along the bench. "Terrible, isn't it?"
Hermione looked up, and vaguely asked herself why she felt her cheeks growing warm.
She hadn't even realized it last night, but Ernie was rather good-looking. The chubby boy from second and third year was gone, replaced by a tall, somewhat muscular, yet still thin, young man with wavy, dark blond hair and happy brown eyes. He was also incredibly smart, and kind and—
"Isn't it?" Ernie asked, motioning towards the paper. Hermione wrenched herself from her mental list of Ernie's attributes and nodded.
"Yes, it is."
"It's terrible about Harry too. How everyone's acting. He's not a liar. I know that, for sure. You-Know-Who is back, and he killed Cedric..." Ernie's voice faltered for a minute, and Hermione got a sudden influx of images of Cedric. She realized that in all of them, Ernie was in the background.
"...and the world ought to believe Harry and Dumbledore."
"You believe Harry?" Hermione asked.
Ernie nodded vehemently. "Yes. I do. My whole family does. But don't tell him I said so. I'd rather tell him myself. I think that after the way I acted in second and fourth year, I owe him a personal, public explanation. I mean, I insulted him and gossiped about him in public, so I'm going to defend him in public." Ernie's brown eyes were determined.
It was all Hermione could do to nod.
"Well," Ernie said, "I'd better get going. I've got Potions first thing. But I'll see you at Herbology today, right?"
He was gone before she could get over her admiration of his thoughts to answer.
